"Slug Day"

I have been so bad today!!!! All of Norms appointments got cancelled and it was raining and cold out, soooooooooo, we just stayed in and did nothing. For me it was a good thing, and I never even got dressed!!! But, for Norm, it wasn't such a wise thing cause part of his problem is that he needs to keep busy. He had nothing to do today, so he got a little bit "sideways" a couple of times. So, I need to rethink things when I need a "slug day". It sure was nice, on my part anyway. Haven't had one of those in a long time. So, now I have had one and it is back to work with therapies, garden, house, sewing, flowers, weeding, mowing, and more.

Norm is getting stronger everyday, so, now I need to think of things for him to do. He helped with the bills today, but quickly got frustrated. It seems whenever there is pressure of any kind, he can't quite handle it. That is getting better too tho. He is showing more interest in going out and doing stuff outside, or running errands. A couple of times we have gone to a store that has had those little "putt-putt" chairs, and that works out good. He can do more and more all of the time. Another thing that is helping is that he is recognizing that he needs something to do. He knows that he just can't sit and think about things too much, so, that is a step in the right direction. Funny tho, he won't let me teach him how to knit, or crochet, or make hats, or tat, or sew, or scrapbook, or make cards or tole paint, or any of the good stuff!!!!! It will all be good when the weather gets warmer and we can spend some time outside.

We are going shopping for tomato plants tomorrow, and I think I am going to buy some flowers to plant. I have three big beds, and they look so pretty with bright colors and lots of different types of flowers. In the past, my daughter and I have just gone through the nursery or wherever we have decided to buy plants and just picked out what we thought was a pretty color or blossom. It has worked out really well and I have gotten many compliments on them. There is no plan, just throw stuff in the ground and feed it with Miracle Grow!!!

Today Norm has spent quite a bit of time off the oxygen, and that is a good thing. He even walked out to the mailbox by himself, with no walker and no "go juice" (oxygen). So, slowly, he is getting rid of that tube he has to have trail behind him everywhere he goes. We have this machine in the house that is called an oxygen concentrator. Norm is hooked to that, by a 50 foot tube and is able to move anywhere in the house, out on the front porch or on the deck. I imagine he will have it at night for a while, but he sure is getting sick of it during the day. It will be nice not to have to load those tanks in the car too. We have tanks for when we go out away from the house.

Sometimes people can become dependent on oxygen and I am thinking that maybe there is a bit of that going on, but then again, he has had some severe lung issues over the past thirteen weeks so, it would stand to reason that he would need it. He just has to start learning to do without and push himself. Although, I can understand his reluctance to do that too, because he came so close to dying at least four times. It would not be hard to imagine being scared. He will work through it. He has come so far, and he is beginning to see his progress.

Every day, I am seeing more of the benefits from this whole ordeal too. (If there is any!!!) Yes, he has the opportunity to have much better health, more energy and get off some dangerous meds he is required to take for thinning his blood. But, in addition to that, I see our relationship changing. Not necessarily worse, or better, just different, and that's kind of nice. We talk a lot more and we seem to be able to express ourselves to each other, more freely. Of course, I would never want something like this to happen to him just so I could "talk", but these are just some of the perks I guess, that one can get, from being through life altering things. And, this definetly was that!!!!

Norm and I have had kind of a hard time learning to live on our own again, with no kids. We miss them terribly but know that they must have their own lives. It's almost like we are dating, and getting to know each other all over again. When there are kids in your life, you tend to get lost in them, and not each other. Then, when the kids are gone and on their own, it's back to the drawing board and you have to learn to live with each other again. It's not really a bad thing, just not so easy sometimes. Norm and I have discovered that we are a team. We have to learn to be. Our children are teams with their spouses and we are the same, just have been doing it longer. Learning, it's all about learning.

You have learned something. That always feels at first as if you had lost something. ~H.G. Wells